


Choose Your Own Path

by VeraIsAPlant



Category: No Fandom, Original Work
Genre: Freedom, Gender Non-conforming Characters, One Shot, Other, Short Story, feeling lost
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-07
Updated: 2017-06-07
Packaged: 2018-11-10 03:45:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11119227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VeraIsAPlant/pseuds/VeraIsAPlant
Summary: What if you never chose your own path, and are now stuck walking someone else's?





	Choose Your Own Path

Walking. Following. This is what I’ve been doing the past couple of years. Walking the highway. The grey highway. No colour, no emotion, just a grey, endless highway. The person walking in front of me is the one that lead me onto this road. We’ve been walking for years.  
When I think back to the time when I first met them, I remember skipping along as they walked, happy as can be. A new road, a new adventure. Who knew where it would take me. After a few months, I stopped skipping; I just walked next to them. The highway wasn’t the adventure I’d expected.  
And now, years later, I walk behind them, wishing for an exit, wishing for a way to leave this long and busy road. My smile has been long gone. As the years passed, my already white hair turned grey. My dark grey clothes no longer the colour of the ocean. It’s as if this highway took every colour and gave its own colour back.  
The people all around me are the same; their clothes a dark grey, their expressions emotionless. They’re just walking. Following the endless road. I wonder if the thought of leaving ever crossed their minds. Probably not.  
When I first got onto this highway, there were several other paths next to this highway. There was an ocean, a beach, and a forest. There were so many things to see. But they stopped being there as weeks passed. I haven’t seen those paths in ages.  
Weeks pass without a change. Everything is still grey. Still emotionless. And then, I see a very small ray of light come down from the sky, through the heavy, dark clouds. As I focus on the light ray, I feel every cell in my body react to it. I need to go there.  
At first I walk a bit faster, now walking next to my leader. I see that they’re not noticing the light. They simply don’t care. I look ahead and see that none of the people on this grey road notice the light. _Fine_ , I think, _never mind, then._  
I pick up the pace and it doesn’t take long until I’m running towards the ray of light. I keep running until I see black spots in my vision; my body is definitely not used to this kind of exercise. I stand there, panting, with my hands on my knees for a few minutes, catching my breath. Once my breathing has calmed down, I continue walking towards the light ray, getting closer with each step I take.  
After what feels like a couple of miles, I notice that my outfit has slightly changed colour. It is ever so slowly going back to the deep blue it once was. My hair has gotten back a bit of its shine, and my skin looks a bit less dull.  
Because I paid attention to heading towards the light beam, I didn’t notice that there was a forest coming into view. The leaves on the trees were looking as bright as if it was spring. Rich colours of green and yellow clashed next to the long, grey road. The forest was a welcoming change, after not having seen any colour aside from grey.  
Still focussing on the light, and completely oblivious to the forest, I keep walking. And then I abruptly stop. I hear a sound, something I haven’t heard in so long. I turn towards the forest and see the source of the sound. Birds. They’re everywhere. Flying around, sitting on branches, skipping across the mossy ground.  
I stare at the sight in front of me, my mouth having fallen open. Trees. Leaves. Animals. Colour. _Life_. A grin spreads across my face. There it is. My exit. The one thing I’ve wanted for almost as long as I’ve been walking this grey road.  
With a deep breath I start running towards the forest, running towards the one place where the highway and the forest meet. I don’t stop running until I’m deep in the forest, far away from the highway. I look around, being surrounded by trees and the sound of nature. There’s life everywhere. It’s nothing like the grey highway with its grey people. No, it’s nothing like that at all.  
I close my eyes and just listen to the sound of life all around. The whistles of birds, the rustling of the leaves, the sound of water flowing downhill. I breathe in the fresh air, the coolness of it filling my lungs. All I can think of in this moment is that this is where I’m supposed to be. Far away from the lifeless highway, and far into the life-filled forest.  
I decide to explore, and go straight ahead, deeper into the forest. The sound of the stream is coming closer. When I reach it, I get on my knees and put my hands in the fresh, cold water. I scoop up a bit and take a sip, actually tasting the coolness of it. I scoop up some more, and splash it in my face, cooling it down after all the running I’ve done.  
I sit down on the dirt floor, playing with the water for a bit while enjoying my surroundings. I realise that, for once, I don’t have to keep walking. I’m actually able to sit down and enjoy the forest and the water and all the living things surrounding it. I’m overcome with so much joy and happiness that I close my eyes and lay down next to the stream, smiling as never before.  
_This is where I truly belong._


End file.
